Apple has opened up iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra to members of its Apple beta software program. Anyone can now try out the latest and greatest versions of iOS and macOS, provided they're willing to put up with a few bugs and a little less battery life. Normally I would have expected Apple to release the public beta in line with a new developer beta, but this time around, there is about a week's gap between the two, although future releases are expected to line up.

It goes without saying that you should have a solid backup of your iOS device before making the jump to iOS 11. Apple's instructions on downgrading back to either the iOS 10 beta program or a non-beta version altogether should also be kept at hand, just in case you don't the negatives to iOS betas.

There's a big ol' preview of iOS 11 from iMore, where Rene Ritchie has been using the iOS 11 betas ever since they were released on both his iPhone 7 Plus and 9.7-inch iPad Pro. Ritchie discusses the updated design of a number of Apple apps in the same style of Music, multitasking on the iPad, and the big headlining features of iOS 11, including drag and drop, Apple's new Files app, and improvements to camera and photos.

ARKit-based tape measuring apps are blowing up on Twitter. Some say they'll be the new fart apps of iOS 11, but even with that kind of skepticism you have to admit that AR-powered tape measures are pretty cool. You know what's even cooler? Minecraft in AR.

The AFR writes about Apple's decision to remove the keyboard extension feature within Westpac's mobile app that allowed users to pay anyone within any kind of social app. It seems like a pretty clear circumvention of Apple's rules, given that that's exactly what iMessage apps are designed to do — what will be really interesting is whether Apple removes apps from other banks that do a similar sort of thing.

There's a good chance Apple has acquired German eye tracking company SensoMotoric Instruments. Documents put together by MacRumors say that an Apple VP of Corporate Law has granted power of attorney to a German law firm to represent an Apple-owned shell company in the acquisition, with the shell company then acquiring all company shares of SensoMotoric Instruments.

Apple CEO Tim Cook made an appearance at Cisco's Live event in the US, where he announced the upcoming availability of Cisco Security Connector app for iPhone and iPad in the enterprise. It's said that the Cisco Security Connector app will offer the security features of both Cisco's Umbrella and Clarify platforms.

The Wall Street Journal has published a short 10-minute video on how the iPhone came to be. There's footage from former Apple execs Scott Forstall, Tony Fadell, and Greg Christie about how they turned ideas into something that looked and felt good.

Casey Liss writes about the MacBook adorable. That's not its official name, of course, but if the MacBook has all the size advantages of an iPad without any of the drawbacks of actually being an iPad, you might as well call it that.